The field of this invention relates to electrical conductors and more particularly to a bus bar assembly which internally includes a predetermined selected amount of capacitance.
The use of printed circuit boards for establishing a given electrical circuit is well known. In using printed circuit boards, it is normally mandatory that a certain amount of electrical devices, such as capacitors, common grounds known as bus bars, resistors and inductors be mounted directly on the circuit board and be electrically connected with the electrical circuit of the board. Each of these electrical elements take up physical space. It is becoming more and more preferred to condense each printed circuit board into a space as small as possible. This means that the overall space is less of the electrical equipment within which is incorporated the printed circuit boards.
Within printed circuit boards there is commonly used a bus bar which functions to conduct electrical current from one electrical connector of the bus bar to another electrical connector. Bus bars are known to have a very low capacitance. Without capacitance, electrical noise can quickly become a significant problem. The noise is created by surges of electricity through the bus bar. This noise can cause undesirable operation of the printed circuit board.
It has been known that use of capacitors minimizes noise. Capacitors are normally mounted within the printed circuit board in physical close proximity to a bus bar and are electrically connected therewith. A common form of capacitor at the present time comprises a ceramic disc upon which has been coated on each side thereof a layer of silver. This ceramic disc is then hermetically sealed in a resin. An electrical conductor connects with each silver coating and extends exteriorly of the hermetic seal. These electrical conductors are mounted to appropriate electrical connectors within the electrical circuit board.
As previously mentioned, within recent years, there has been a trend to condense the size of the printed circuit boards. It would be desirable if there would be some way to incorporate within the bus bar structure itself a selected amount of capacitance thereby eliminating the use of separate capacitors thereby saving printed circuit board space.